🎄 Christmas Cookie Connection
A Tradition of Gratitude and Presence
At Breathe Easy, we believe gratitude is a form of healing. Each holiday season, we pause to honor the medical teams who care for patients when they cannot care for themselves—those who become family to people in their most fragile moments.
While the rest of the world gathers with loved ones, these care providers stay by the bedside, giving comfort, strength, and hope.
❤️ Sharing Gratitude, One Cookie at a Time
Since 2019, Breathe Easy has shared our thanks through a heartfelt tradition we call the Christmas Cookie Connection—bringing homemade cookies, warm smiles, and genuine care to the medical staff at KU Hospital in Kansas City.
Our first year began in the emergency room and ended on the CF floor of the main hospital. Volunteers in festive sweaters filled the halls, offering conversation, prayer, and encouragement deep into the night.
Many staff could only stop for a moment to grab a cookie before returning to their patients. At one point, a volunteer asked, “Do we stay or go?”
We stayed.
Because sometimes the greatest gift isn’t the cookies—it’s the presence.
Someone there to listen.
Someone to remind them they are seen, appreciated, and loved.
Someone to fill them up so they can continue to pour into others.
🌟 Hope in the Midst of Challenge
In 2020, the world changed. The COVID-19 pandemic brought closed hospital doors and long, exhausting shifts. We could no longer enter the halls ourselves—but our gratitude didn’t stop.
Our team found new ways to reach the hearts of those inside, assembling cookie care packages filled with cards of encouragement and contact information for anyone who needed someone to talk with during the holidays.
Even through distance, love found its way in.
🙏 Returning to the Halls of Healing
By 2022 and 2023, we were able to return in person. The faces we met told a new story—fewer staff, deeper exhaustion, heavier burdens. Yet through it all, their spirit of service remained.
With a chaplain by our side, our volunteers offered prayer, support, and moments of shared hope.
It’s amazing how a small act of kindness—a cookie, a smile, a prayer—can lift spirits and renew strength for those who give so much of themselves.
✨ Looking Ahead
Although we were unable to host the Christmas Cookie Connection in 2024, our mission of gratitude continues.
Plans are already underway to return with renewed energy and deeper purpose—to remind our community’s caregivers that they are never alone, and their compassion never goes unseen.